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Hypothesis One: Consciousness Based on Language
Consciousness—as Jaynes carefully defined it—is a learned process based on metaphorical language.
Consciousness is generated and configured (but not determined) by metaphoric and figurative expressions.
Language is not merely a means of communication but is an organ of perception (Jaynes, 1990, p. 50).
Word changes lead to concept changes, and concept changes result in behavioral changes.
Language alone does not lead to introspective conscious mind. What is crucial is the concepts a certain language possesses that allow the generation of consciousness.
Jaynes of course was not the first to see a vital link between figures of speech and how we think, but his argument is radical in how it postulates that metaphors generate conscious experience itself.